Vide Noir was written and recorded over the past two years at Lord Huron’s Los Angeles studio and informal clubhouse, Whispering Pines, and was mixed by Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips/MGMT). Singer, songwriter and producer Ben Schneider found inspiration wandering restlessly through his adopted home of L.A. at night: “My nighttime drives ranged all over the city – across the twinkling grid of the valley, into the creeping shadows of the foothills, through downtown’s neon canyons and way out to the darksome ocean. I started imagining Vide Noir as an epic odyssey through the city, across dimensions, and out into the cosmos. A journey along the spectrum of human experience. A search for meaning amidst the cold indifference of The Universe,” he says.

Lead single “Wait by the River” is already the subject of early critical praise; the Los Angeles Times proclaims, “It’s a gorgeous song, one with the majesty of a 1950s doo-wop ballad,” while SPIN adds, “[‘Wait by the River’] offers a refined, waltz-like sound that can’t quite cover for the sins of a fatalistically obsessed narrator.” UPROXX furthers, “The track sounds like something you’d slowly sway back and forth to in close proximity with a special someone at a ‘50s high school dance, like a more doo-wop Fleet Foxes, a vibe they previously proved they can nail with ‘The Night We Met.'”

A true multi-media artist, Schneider has once again created an adorned world to inhabit within Vide Noir: the album will be accompanied by a wealth of imagery, films and immersive experiences crafted to expand upon its narratives and themes. This builds on Schneider’s past work, which used videos, a comic book, a choose-your-own-adventure hotline and assorted Easter eggs as means of deepening the listener experience.